Gen.G remain undefeated in Anaheim; advance to grand final over North

Gen.G bested North in a nail-biting 2-0 series to secure grand finals participation at their debut LAN event.

Gen.G maintained an undefeated record on LAN as Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele and his men took on North in Anaheim looking to secure their first grand final. Dust2, North's pick, witnessed a late-game comeback spearheaded by Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta and Kenneth "⁠koosta⁠" Suen, in a victory that came down to the wire at 16-13. Later, the American-majority squad surpassed their opponents on Mirage in similarly close fashion, concluding the map and series 16-14.

North kicked the series off on the CT side of Dust2, where the Danes secured the pistol round, later conceding momentum to a second-round force buy. Given an inch, Gen.G took a mile, as they consistently closed out rounds well into mid-half, in large part thanks to Hansel "⁠BnTeT⁠" Ferdinand's outstanding performance on the T side. Nicklas "⁠gade⁠" Gade and René "⁠cajunb⁠" Borg accounted for a second round on the defense, and despite the effort, only two more rounds fell in North's favor prior to switching sides.

On the T side North once more succeeded in the pistol round, this time generating significantly more long-term momentum than prior. Consistent conversions on the offense allowed the Danes to steadily close the round discrepancy, and after conceding but one round, found themselves in a 13-13 situation thanks to a quad kill from Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye. Outstanding multi-frag responses from autimatic and koosta in the deciding rounds allowed the American-majority squad to run away with North's map pick at 16-13.

Gen.G kept the ball rolling on the T side of Mirage, where autimatic continued to impress, landing a P250 triple in the opening round. The next two were on autopilot for the map leaders, but North struck back once their economy was in check, surpassing their opponents on the scoreboard. A struggle for power ensued, which North won in the short-term, but after a successful pistol buy from Gen.G, daps and company were able to soften their worsening deficit to a manageable 7-8.

Sam "⁠s0m⁠" Oh shone through in the second pistol with a quad kill, however, the CTs were unable to capitalize in the follower due to a timely force buy from North. Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen and company clocked in a string of successes, but once more faltered against a half buy from Gen.G, which threw off the Danes' flow. The Ts came close to a half buy victory of their own, however, a 3v2 advantage was squandered, allowing Gen.G to assume the lead and eventually find map and series point. Kjaerbye single-handedly ensured the 30th round, but a failed hunt on autimatic and BnTeT cost North the series at 16-14.